The Citizens Budget Commission is a long-time critic of the New York State Film Tax Credit program and supports its repeal. However, due to some unusual provisions of state tax law, repeal of the credit will not yield immediate state savings.

A coalition called Tax Equity Now NY, which includes the NAACP, the Black Institute, several landlords and homeowners, has teamed up with lawyers from the firm Latham & Watkins, including former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann, to file a class-action suit this week charging that the DNA of the city’s property tax system is racially biased and favors the affluent over the working- and middle-class.

If the temporary personal income tax hike is the price we pay for long-term reforms that enhance infrastructure, encourage job growth, make the state and local tax system more equitable, and reduce future pension costs, then it is a price worth paying.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders deserve credit for agreeing on a budget that breaks some bad habits. It was on time, reins in spending that was growing at an unsustainable pace, and minimizes the facile devices that checkered past budgets—deficit borrowing, tax hikes, one shots and other gimmickry.